April 11, 2011

Taking it all off -- or even partially off -- on facebook can be a big blow to your career -- or not. Last week, a beauty queen was stripped of her title when allegations that she posted nude photos of herself on facebook surfaced. The twenty-three year old model won Miss York City last year becoming the first single mum to qualify for Miss Great Britain since the competition was opened 65 years ago.

However, Miss Great Britain's CEO says that the beauty queen violated contest rules when she posted 100% nude photographs of herself, bearing it all on Facebook. In response, the contest decided to strip her of her title and has awarded another woman the title. The beauty queen said that she never broke the rules and that there are no nude photographs of her posted anywhere and that only a semi-nude photo of her (pictured below) was posted online -- on her Facebook -- for the past two years, prior to winning the title, and that it does not violate the rules of the contest.

Whether the beauty queen was bearing too much or not, it is clear that this incident has led to a reputation management dilemma for the beauty queen and the pageant organizers. Responding quickly to the alleged discovery of photos and speaking to the media openly about the pageant's rules has enabled the organizers to cap the reputation management crisis and make it clear that this kind of nudity won't be tolerated.

For the beauty queen, who is a working model, this is certainly a set back, but not one that can't be overcome. Charolette is likely to continue to have modeling opportunities, and may even have more, now that she's gotten some publicity over the photographs and has responded to her de-crowning with professionalism and vigor. Especially for models, who often seem like just a pretty face, it is important to be media savvy, since their image is their income. Charolette seems to have responded quickly enough to this media blitz to in fact gain from it -- even though she will no longer officially be Miss York.